Three questions stand out in the wake of Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin’s injury.
1.) What/how serious is the injury?
2.) Is likely fill-in QB Luke Fahey ready for what’s coming?
3.) Why is a 5-foot-11 true freshman the next man up, instead of former five-star Tavien St. Clair?
Let’s tackle all three.
How serious is Julian Sayin's injury?
We don’t truly know the extent of the injury, which happened when Indiana lineman Mario Landino sacked Sayin in the fourth quarter of the Buckeyes’ 19-15 win against Indiana Oct. 17. Only coach Ryan Day and others inside the program know the deal, but it doesn't sound good.
"He is out indefinitely," Day said following Oct. 20 practice, amending his statement after the IU game that Sayin would be out "several weeks."
Ohio State will not put a timeline
on Sayin's recovery, Day said, adding that the program is giving Sayin and his family privacy through the process.
"But based on the nature of the injury, we are putting together a plan for him not being available for the regular season and then also him not being available for the postseason," Day said.
The injury almost certainly has something to do with Sayin’s arm/shoulder, but that’s broad enough that anyone outside the program can only speculate, including former OSU coach Urban Meyer.
“If it was an [incredibly painful shoulder separation] he would have gone to the locker room and probably not come back out,” said Meyer Oct. 20, stressing that he is no doctor but also noting how Sayin was smiling on the sideline after returning from the locker room with his throwing arm in a sling.
Meyer’s best guess? A damaged rotator cuff, torn labrum or collar bone issue. Meyer coached long enough to get a feel for the severity of certain injuries. He also has a direct line into Day and likely will know the extent of the injury before the rest of us.
Meyer also knows the answer to the second question better than most anyone.
Will Luke Fahey (or possibly Tavien St. Clair) be ready?
According to Meyer, that’s the wrong question to ask. The right one? Are the two QBs already ready?
The inclination of OSU fans and media is to think of Fahey’s preparation having begun the moment Sayin was injured and he entered the fray against the Hoosiers, and then continuing through the off week and into the Oct. 31 game at USC.
Meyer said nope, because by then it is too late.
If Fahey and St. Clair have not been standing behind Sayin during practices, totally tuned in while going through the same mental reps as Sayin without actually handing off or throwing the ball, it doesn’t matter how well they get coached up the next two weeks.
“You’ll know immediately [against USC] what he was doing the past three months. If he stood behind Sayin he’ll be fine,” Meyer said.
If not?
“If he was not doing that then he won’t be ready,” Meyer said. “I don’t care if he has two weeks [to prepare] or not. People can say, ‘He’s a great kid.’ You can be a great kid all you want, but the only way to be ready is to get reps.”
Meyer should know. He was in charge of the Buckeyes in 2012 when backup quarterback Kenny Guiton stepped in for injured starter Braxton Miller and led OSU to a comeback overtime win against Purdue. Meyer also tabbed Cardale Jones to run the offense when J.T. Barrett broke his ankle against Michigan in 2014. All Jones did was close out the win against UM, then lead OSU to three consecutive victories against Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, Alabama in a playoff semifinal and Oregon in the championship game.
Finally, Meyer sent Dwayne Haskins in for an injured Barrett in the third quarter of the 2017 Michigan game, and Haskins rallied the Buckeyes to a 31-20 victory.
Jones’ emergence is the most famous of the three, but Meyer emphasized that Guiton set the standard for how a backup quarterback should prepare.
Meyer described Guiton as “the poster child” for getting mental reps during practice, which allowed him to be ready to step in if needed.
“Kenny Guiton became the ultimate authority on mental reps in practice,” Meyer said. “He started it and coach Day still does it.”
Guiton, now the quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin under Luke Fickell, who was OSU’s co-defensive coordinator in 2012, took it upon himself to serve as Miller’s “clone” in 2012.
“He didn’t have the ball or throw it, but we coached him like he did,” Meyer said. “There is no other way to be ready than repetition, so he would have the same reps as Braxton Miller. Tom Herman was our quarterbacks coach and would grade Kenny as Kenny stood behind Braxton.”
Meyer and Herman could tell if Guiton was reading the play correctly by the way he turned his head and where his eyes aimed.
“And once we saw how it worked, everybody had to do it from then on,” Meyer said.
Where things could get tricky is how much Day will need to change the offense with Sayin out. Fahey still has Jeremiah Smith to throw to, but the freshman’s skill set differs from Sayin’s.
Meyer experienced a similar situation when Haskins backed up Barrett.
“The most dramatic change was from J.T. to Dwayne Haskins,” he said. “It was a completely different game plan, and was a stresser for the offensive line because you only have Tuesday and Wednesday to get it ready. They have the bye week, which helps, but if the kid can’t do what Sayin does?”
Barrett could run, so Meyer relied heavily on run/pass options (RPOs). Haskins was a thrower with limited mobility. Meyer set up practices for Barret to get 60% of the snaps, with Haskins getting the other 40%.
“We’d have six plays for J.T. which would be the quarterback run and read game, then the last four would be Dwayne dropping back in the passing game,” Meyer said.
Why Luke Fahey and not Tavien St. Clair?
The million-dollar question. I was as surprised as anyone when Fahey was taking second-team snaps during preseason practice, even more surprised when Day named him Sayin’s backup before the opener against Ball State.
"Going into the last few games, Luke's been ahead of Tavien," Day said Tuesday, adding that the bye week allows for a more robust quarterback competition to play out between Fahey and St. Clair. "These guys are both going to get a lot of reps and we're going to start to put together a plan on how we're going to move forward."
Day has not shared why St. Clair did not win the job as Sayin's backup, but the former five-star recruit from Bellefontaine must be lacking something that the coaching staff sees in Fahey. Considering St. Clair has impressive physical size and tools (6-4, 235 pounds with a strong arm and decent wheels), it is fair to surmise that a) his leadership skills need work; b) he processes information before and during plays slower than Fahey; c) Fahey has outworked him; or d) all of the above.
Day said of Fahey, "He's an extremely hard worker. He puts a lot of hours in. He's extremely competitive. He has a moxie about him. ... We're always looking for quarterbacks who are obsessed with being great. I think when you get around Luke you see how important it is to him. And when he steps in the huddle, he's got 'it,' and the linemen feel that."
Recruiting is an imperfect science in which more five-stars fizzle than flash. It’s one thing to be the best player on a high school team, but the real test comes when talent evens out in college. Especially at the quarterback position, the level of mental processing is a challenge to discern in high school, where a QB can excel on physical talent alone.
Whatever the reason, even Meyer wonders what is up with St. Clair, and if Day might give the sophomore a shot against USC.
“I’m curious to see if they try the five-star,” Meyer said. “I know how talented he is, and it’s perplexing why he’s not the quarterback and why he doesn’t jog on the field when Sayin went down,” Meyer said on "The Triple Option" show Oct. 20.
The confusion won't last forever. Two weeks from now in Los Angeles, or maybe sooner, we will have more answers.
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ryan Day's backup quarterback decision about to face its biggest test
